How Cheech And Chong Almost Ended Up In A Friday The 13th Sequel

There have been a lot of weird movie crossovers over the years, from Abbot and Costello meeting Frankenstein to The LEGO Movie mashing a number of franchises together in its brick-constructed universe. In the realm of horror, one of the most prominent crossovers was Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees clashing in 2003's Freddy vs. Jason. But years before those two horror icons duked it out, there was a brief period where there was consideration in pairing Jason with Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, the pot-smoking comedy duo who were at the height of their popularity during the time that the hockey mask-wearing killer was halfway through his terror spree. As Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives writer and director Tom McLoughlin recalled:

[Frank Mancuso Jr.] wanted me to do another film after we did Jason. And I said, 'What are you thinking? I don't know what it could be now.' And he said, 'Well, what do you think about Freddy (Krueger) and Jason?' And I go, 'But Freddy's at New Line and the guys at Paramount have [Jason].' And it's like, 'Well, we're going to try and see if we can work something out.' So, I started thinking about that, going, It doesn't make sense. I mean he lives in one realm and --- you know, I take this stuff very seriously, what realm a monster's supposed to stay in. And he came back, he goes, 'Eh, forget it, it's not going to work anyway.' And I said, 'You know what? You guys own Cheech and Chong. What if we do Cheech and Chong-meets-Jason? They're like camp counselors or something. It's like, 'Hey, man, I saw Jason out there.' 'No, man, that's a myth.' But he said, 'You know what? No.'

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives was released in 1986, six years after the Friday the 13th saga kicked off and five years after Jason Voorhees himself debuted. The series continued in 1988 with The New Blood, but as Tom McLoughlin revealed on the Post Mortem with Mick Garris podcast, the idea of having Jason crossing paths with Cheech and Chong at Camp Crystal Lake was thrown around simply because at the time, pairing Jason with Freddy Krueger wasn't feasible. Even though Jason resided at the same studio as Cheech and Chong, it's probably for the best that this idea didn't go very far. This was still during the time when the Friday the 13th franchise hadn't delved into pure ridiculousness (I'm looking at you, Jason X), so needless to say it wouldn't have been a great fit for a feature-length story. Besides, the franchise already provided stoner duo representation through Chuck and Chili in Friday the 13th Part III. That being said, watching Cheech and Chong freak out at seeing Jason would have been prime material for a comedy sketch.

Jason Voorhees last graced the big screen in 2009 with the Friday the 13th reboot, which was met with negative reception. Another reboot was scheduled to begin production earlier this year, but it was cancelled back in February due to a variety of factors, and there's been no word on if a different Friday the 13th movie will take its place. As for Cheech and Chong, they last "appeared" in the 2013 comedy Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie!, and while Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke 2 was announced years ago, it's unclear if that movie is still happening.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on both the Friday the 13th franchise and Cheech and Chong's theatrical appearances. For now, you can look through our 2018 premiere guide to see what's hitting the silver screen next year.